Food covers for storing partially used fruits and vegetables are widely available in an assortment of configurations. Some of these food covers are rigid containers for storing fruits and vegetables, such as onions, tomatoes, and bananas. These food covers typically include two separate, rigid pieces. These pieces can both be dish-like or one piece can be dish-like and the other flat. These pieces are joined by a threaded connection that requires mating the threads and screwing the pieces together to enclose the food therein. Mating the threads can require care and patience.
Alternatively, these rigid containers can be formed of a single piece of material that includes two rigid dish-like halves joined by a hinge.
These types of rigid cases leave food exposed to significant open air circulation and fail to offer an adequate seal over the exposed sections of fruit or vegetables. These rigid containers may also typically designed and shaped to resemble the particular foods they contain, and thus may fail to offer the flexibility of being able to adequately preserve a wide variety of foods of various shapes.
Some of these containers are opaque so that the food is difficult to identify. Some of these containers have a transparent half and an opaque half. Although the food is visible through the transparent half, and opaque half may obscure the food from view. In both cases, a user may need to open or flip the container to see the contents. In the first case, this exposes the food to more air. In both cases, a user may overlook such enclosed food until it is unusable.
Additionally, these containers are bulky, since they are larger than the food enclosed within and thus may take up the limited space in a user's fruit and vegetable drawers in a refrigerator. The two-piece versions of these containers require a user to locate both pieces in order to use the containers, which can be an added hurdle to use.
Another way to preserve food is using plastic wraps, which are available in a variety of configurations. Plastic wraps are typically sold in rolls or sheets and can be applied to partially consumed fruits and vegetables to preserve their freshness. Since plastic wraps are not sufficiently durable to be used on multiple occasions, washed, nor reapplied suitably over and over again, they are typically used one time and thrown away. This is wasteful. Plastic wraps also fail to provide a strong connection with the food being preserved. In order to hold and/or seal the plastic wrap on the food, an additional member, such as a rubber band must be used.
Thus, a need exists for a food cover that allows for an adequate seal on partially consumed foods. A need also exists for food covers that are durable enough to be reusable and capable of being used across a wide variety of food items.